Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

It was a disappointing hatch - worst ever here in fact. Only 3 hatched (we're only a day over, but I'm not optimistic for the remaining 5), 1 each of the Braekels, Leghorns and Swedish Flowers. I hope to find out what the issue(s) were when she brings the chicks off the nest and I can do an eggtopsy. The 3 look great though!
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Sorry to hear that... we're there any broken eggs early on?

 

[Perris]

No; turned out they were just infertile. But looking on the bright side, having one of each breed makes the chicks easier to differentiate, life will be easier for the broody Eve, and there'll be less pressure on space in the coops .

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Update: Bar has fledged her 3, 1CL female and 2 remaining Barnie (not sure what happened to one, just disappeared?). Brownie has fledged her 3 Barnie babes...so I've got six 4 to 5 week olds huddling with Creme in the nest at night. Creme is thrilled to be auntie to them at night and chooks during the day (without the hard work of sitting for 3 weeks, lol).

Cochine had a disappointing hatch. Only 2 of 7 hatched. They were older eggs from Creme, so not overly surprising, plus as often as the hens pulled her off the nest at the start. I subdivided the coop to give Cochine privacy the last week and during the first 2 weeks of the babes' lives. THAT really helped. Both babes are thriving. I took the barrier down at 2 weeks after hatch, but Cochine, being that low hen on the pecking order, has still not ventured out at now week 3. She has food, water, and the whole coop floor to herself with the 2 chicks and seems happy. I'll let it go as is. Eventually she'll take them out. The older they are, the better it will be. Others are straggling in at night. I only had a scuffle the day I took the subdivision down. Of those 2, I have a definite girl and one that could go either way, but the size of the head dot indicates likely male.

So 2 CL girls, 1 CL boy or girl, and 5 Barnie, which so far look like all girls.

Learned I will stick with isolated brooding from now own and integrate at 2 weeks. When main coop brooding works, it's great, but it sure can go south with the wrong mix of hens and foot traffic.

LofMc

 

[Perris]

anybody here know if feather-sexing works with Braekels, Leghorns, or Swedish Flowers? If it does, the first two are looking like pullets while the third looks to be a cockerel

 

[SharW75]

We've had a couple hens hatch out babies this year. The first is our bantam cochin, Garnet. We gave her three eggs from my mom's chickens and the only one that hatched out was the EE egg.

The other is our barnyard mix, Cardinal. She snuck a bunch under her.

 

[fisherlady]

anybody here know if feather-sexing works with Braekels, Leghorns, or Swedish Flowers? If it does, the first two are looking like pullets while the third looks to be a cockerel
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Sorry, I can't help with sexing chickes at all other than head spots. For us it never mattered since we just can the cockerels.

We've had a couple hens hatch out babies this year. The first is our bantam cochin, Garnet. We gave her three eggs from my mom's chickens and the only one that hatched out was the EE egg.

View attachment 3147216

The other is our barnyard mix, Cardinal. She snuck a bunch under her. View attachment 3147217

Welcome to the wonderful world of broodies! Looks like you have a good crew raising your chicks.

 

[Perris]

The chicks are 2 weeks old now and I don't think feather sexing works with leghorns at least: the feathers grew fast and long but this comb suggests a boy I think

 

[fisherlady]

The chicks are 2 weeks old now and I don't think feather sexing works with leghorns at least: the feathers grew fast and long but this comb suggests a boy I think
View attachment 3151808

We had high quality leghorns years ago... don't count it out yet. The combs on those girls were huge! They flopped over and were prominent even at a young age. I don't see wattles yet on yours, so give it a few more weeks and we will keep our fingers crossed.

 

[Perris]

We had high quality leghorns years ago... don't count it out yet. The combs on those girls were huge! They flopped over and were prominent even at a young age. I don't see wattles yet on yours, so give it a few more weeks and we will keep our fingers crossed.

how interesting! Many thanks for that information...I shall enjoy the uncertainty for a while longer then

 

[SharW75]

Our BLRW, Mindy, decided to give us a few more little ones this summer. Here she is with 3 of them. There's a brand new 4th chick under her, and one more pipping. These guys all hatched a day early, so I'm still hopeful the last two eggs that aren't doing anything yet will still hatch. They have been developing fine, so we're optimistic.

A bit of excitement as we inspected these babies...the little white one has a naked neck! We only have one NN, Ruth, so it had to be her egg. Ruth is a fantastic hen--big, thrifty, smart, and lays nice brown eggs--so we're really hoping this little one is a girl.